Driving directions free on your Pocket PC screams an advertisement from Hyderabad-based SatNav Technologies. The company has developed Indias first GPS navigation guide. Using SatGuide, users can now navigate to any chosen location by entering the destination as the only input.

According to the companys website, SatGuide resolves the current location from GPS satellites and suggests the best possible route on a map displayed on the screen. While driving, it prompts the user all along the way through voice commands with directions to reach the destination. A scenario that is becoming quite common in certain parts of the US and other developed economies.

Small Company, Big Space
SatNav is an example of a small company with a great product. This is quite typical of the mobile apps space. An IDC study pointed out that mobile services, applications and devices continue to be one of the most rapidly evolving areas-encompassing communications, content, entertainment, and enterprise connectivity. Some of the most interesting companies that are poised to play potentially larger roles in the mobile industry are relatively small companies that few people have heard of.

According to IDC, the mobile enterprise application market will reach $3.5 bn globally by 2010, growing at a CAGR of 23% from $1.2 bn in 2005. Some of the factors driving this market are:

• Varying requirements for application functionality and data, based on employee role and time criticality

• Ability for carriers, device manufacturers, ISVs, and systems integrators to provide packaged solutions to end-user organizations

• Sophistication of organizations as they relate to mobility

• Horizontal deployments across organizations that drive collaborative CRM applications.

IDC feels that in the current year mobile devices will emerge as the third screen-the first being television, and second the computer. Earlier people talked about web-enabling ERP applications; today one talks of mobile-enabling ERP. This is to enable users to access their companys data and apps through the mobile device.

No Dearth of Options
Analysts believe that 2007 will see the blurring of lines between devices, as device interoperability becomes smoother. What it means is a user can seamlessly transition from a fixed device like a desktop to a mobile device like a smart phone. And the apps go with the user.

The device manufacturers are putting in substantive efforts in this direction. Motorolas liquid screen technology is a step towards achieving that. Nokia seeds numerous mobile applications through its forum and fosters the mobile apps developer community across the world.

What makes the market very interesting is the sea change in device technologies. Today, the gap between a conventional mobile device and smart phones are closing in. On the OS side, what used to be a bi-polar market with Symbian and Windows Mobile is facing new competition from Linux, which is increasingly being adopted in the mobile space.

It thus looks imminent that, over the medium term, there would be several open source mobile applications hitting the market. This will, in turn, drive the overall adoption of mobile applications, making it mainstream.

Shrikanth G
shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in

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